Tom Izzo's State of State address: Don't bet against his Spartans

Jan 15, 2017; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan State Spartans coach Tom Izzo disputes a call by an officials in the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena.(Photo: Greg Bartram, USA TODAY Sports)

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo stood firmly atop the podium. The Hall of Fame coach delivered a steadfast message to his followers, even though he admitted to searching for answers to Michigan State’s up-and-down season.

“Don’t panic,” Izzo said. “This team is getting better.”

Less than seven hours before Gov. Rick Snyder gave his State of the State address a few miles away at the capitol, Izzo provided a midpoint glimpse into his own program’s progress and problems.

“Am I happy where we are? No,” Izzo said. “Do I understand where we are? Partially.”

Izzo’s State of State covered many of the issues that the Spartans have experienced throughout their 12-7 overall record and 4-2 Big Ten start, with a road game forthcoming Saturday at Indiana (4 p.m./ESPN). At times, he admitted it felt like he was making excuses. At times, he blamed himself and his staff. At times, he put the onus on the players.

The candid reveal and exchange with reporters took more than 20 minutes. Here are some of the highlights:

ON HIS FEELINGS ABOUT THIS TEAM: “This is a new adventure for me. It’s a new adventure. Just like all the other ones that were new at one time, you can bet against us. I wouldn’t advise you to. OK? I wouldn’t advise you to because the more noise, the more work. The more work, the more reason to win. The more reason to win, the more it fuels me. To be honest with you, this has been hard on all of us, but I can’t blame the kids for things that they’re going through. That is not their fault.”

ON HAVING A YOUNG SQUAD: “It’s different, it’s new territory. I’ve had the job for 22 years. Never in 22 years did I even dream of starting four freshmen. Had some pretty good classes. Had some pretty good teams, some pretty good recruiting classes. But I always had some veterans. … That is gonna take some time, way more than I thought. That’s the part that’s been hard for me.”

ON THE 12-7 START: “It’s been a hell of a year, and I think we’re still above water. We’re 4-2 in the league. I think we have a lot of work to do. I think fans should get behind this team because it’s a lovable, likable team. … I’ve got unbelievable guys. A couple guys are struggling a little bit.”

ON GRADUALLY CUTTING DOWN ON TURNOVERS: “We’re doing some things better. We reared our ugly head and the turnovers came back (at Ohio State). They were cut down to like 11, 12 a game over five-, six-game stretch. They came back. We reared our ugly head because a couple guys didn’t play as well that I thought would play well, that had been playing well. But we gotta do a better job as coaches, too.”

ON INJURIES: “A ton of injuries. Just name them from last April. You got Matt McQuaid (double sports hernia), you got Kenny Goins (knee). Then you got Gavin (Schilling, knee) and Ben (Carter, knee), then you got Josh (Langford, hamstring), then you got Miles (Bridges, ankle). When I say those, those are a month to six-month to a whole year worth of injuries. Now, all those guys coulda, woulda, maybe started or been in the playing group. That’s just the reality of it. So that part of is that way.”

ON MSU’S NOVEMBER SCHEDULE: “Would I do it again? This is one thing I will say – I’ll play the same schedule, never in the same framework. I’ll never do that again. So that’s my fault. If people want to criticize, that’s what they should criticize. But those freshmen, they’ve done a hell of a job battling through that.”

ON LACK OF EARLY PRACTICE TIME WITH TRAVEL: “We weren’t getting any, because I knew what it was like when we were getting back at 4 in the morning and we had to try to go the next day, and we weren’t getting any in. Now that’s over, so it’s not an excuse. It’s a reality that I didn’t do a good job of explaining how bad it was, because I knew I’d get nailed with it as an excuse. … I said, ‘Well, I got back on this day,’ and I’d have three days until the next game. But I forgot when I got back on that day, whooogh, the next day nobody was functioning very well.”

IN CLOSING: “For those of you that have followed us for a long time, it’s the middle of January and I say we still have to work on Michigan State. That doesn’t happen very often either. But there are reasons for it. I hate giving a state of the union address. I like it before or after the season, but this is another unique thing and it was probably a good time to do it.”